Wildwood Theatrical Production

In summer 2019 Grandstreet Theatre in Helena Mt put on a theatrical version of Wildwood. This theatre was given the rights to the story, (which is owned by Laika Studios, by the way!) because it was in the hometown of the Author, Colin Meloy. He also was a part of the programs children's theatre school. The script was written by _______ and the play was directed by Sarah Butts. The cast featured a wide range of ages including both children and adults, playing to the characters respective ages.

A few glaring changes where made to the plot and characters. First to go through characters: Most of the glaring changes are the species and sometimes gender of some characters. The four "central" characters (being Prue, Curtis, Brendan and Alexandra) are unchanged. Iphigenia is changed into a mink in the script, though this was largely ignored in the production. Roger, a secretory from the mansion is now a female swamp rat named Rachel. Owl Rex is also changed into Owl Regina, and the role of the general in the book is taken by her. The bandits are much smaller, consisting only of Angus, a porcupine and Damian, a raccoon.

the plot is largely accurate. We start out with the kidnapping, and flashback of what happened an hour before. Then Curtis and Prue wander into the woods without any trouble. Then Curtis is found and captured by Dimitri and Maxim, two coyotes and Prue is helped by Richard to south wood. Curtis is grilled by Alexandra on how he got in to the wood where he admits he was helped in by Prue while looking for her baby brother whereon she promises to send her coyote army out to find him an makes him a commander. Prue visits the south wood and gets through Rachel, the secretary in order to see Lars. We find he is basically Rachel's puppet and Prue is locked in the north tower by a dog guard who she later doups and locks in the bathroom after Enver, a song sparrow tells her to meet the owl. Curtis is semi-forced out on the battle field and the Bandits attack and are later defeated by his cannon shot. Then in the after party, the victory is celebrated and Alexandra asks Curtis to be her heir. Dimitri leads him away to the deep tunnels where Mac is being kept. Alexandra and Maxim find them and take Dimitri away, and Alexandra begs Curtis to take up her offer. He declines and is thrown in prison. She does and escapes with owl who tells her the go to north wood, and tells her she will fly her herself. She is then shot out of the sky. Brendan finds them, and tells Prue about Curtis's involvement in battle. Alexandra finds them and takes Brendan prisoner and tells Prue to go home, which she does. Then there is intermission. We open back up on the Prison where Curtis and Dimitri are stuck with the two bandits who we saw earlier in the first battle scene, Damian and Angus. the scene is mostly comical and we are also introduced to Septimus, who makes a racket by chewing the bars of the shared cage. Brendan is brought in and tries to make a plan with his fellow bandits but is interrupted by Septimus chewing on keys, which they use to escape. Prue's parents tell her the story of her and Mac's birth, the fact that they sold Mac's life to Alexandra so they could have a child, Prue. She runs out on them and back into the wood, where Richard finds her and takes her to North Wood. Curtis, Dimitri and the Bandits have a little meeting where Dimitri leaves them to go back to his mate and pups. Angus and Damian are about to go until Curtis rallies them and is then named a bandit. They then march to Northwood. Prue gets help from the farmers who tell her where to find the mystics. Iphigenia, elder mystic, refuses to help until Prue prompts them to meditate on it, where they find out a plot to destroy the wood using mac as a sacrifice to the Ivy, which will consume everything. The mystics then raise and army of themselves and the farmers, and the Bandits join them while Curtis and Prue are reunited. Alexandra's forces arrive, and the battle is carried out. Alexandra prepares to make the sacrifice and Iphigenia attempts to talk her out of it, and is stopped by Maxim. Prue then intervenes and the Council tree lifts mac away. Alexandra try's to attack Prue but is shot by Curtis, thus feeding the ivy. He commands it to sleep. Prue and Curtis go their separate ways, with Curtis staying in the wood and Prue going home.

The most glaring plot differences are as such: Owl Rex/Regina is not put in prison but rather takes the role of his/her general in the book, being shot down. Septimus, who is a very big character in the book gets much less stage time. The final battle, which happens at the plinth of the ancients in Wildwood in the book, happens at the counsel tree in North wood in the play. Brendan kills Alexandra in the book but Curtis does it here.